Legend: Alter
by Fragments Of Dreams
Summary: What would you do if you lived in nightmares? What would you think about yourself? What do you see in the mirror? What would you do if you faced yourself? Will you have the courage to look into your heart? Can you survive from yourself? Or will you lose yourself in the darkness that is yourself? [OC submission CLOSED]
1. The Untold

**_Author's Notes:_**

**_Well, I'm back and probably more insane than usual. Why, you ask? Because this is another OC submission story..._**

**_Well, due to the lack of sugar rushes I'm unable to write "My Anime Birthday!" and Taiji hasn't been updated in a while. But who can defy plot bunnies anyway?_**

**_I'll be updating Taiji soon, if anyone's interested in knowing._**

**_And this is also the intro of my new OC: Kurosawa Ayumu. Say "Hi" Yume-kun._**

**_Kurosawa: ...Hello. Um... The author does not own IE or its characters. He only owns the plot and his OCs._**

* * *

**_Legend: Alter_**

**_Chapter One: The Untold_**

It was the beginning of another day in Inazuma Town. The soft morning sunlight flitted trough the curtains of a window of a certain 16 year old teen's room who was sleeping with a pillow covering his eyes. The bright line created crawled upwards slowly towards the bed of the teen like a luminous snake, and when it was about midway across the floor, an alarm-clock beeped to life. The neon green numbers flashing sharply against the black background of the digital clock.

The teen groaned, shifting sleepily beneath the pillow and covers. His hand looked for the clock on his bedside cabinet, only to remember he had placed it on the small mirror hanging on the wall beside the cabinet. He got up and stretched his arms, barely stifling a yawn in the process.

After silencing the infernal beeps of his alarm-clock, he entered his room's bathroom, walking sluggishly. And miraculously, he reached the sink of the bathroom, with his eyes closed the whole time. Probably his many years living in the same house made this second nature.

He quickly splashed cool water from the faucet on his face, relishing the refreshing feeling while getting some of the heaviness of his eyes out. He looked at the mirror in front of him, blinking his eyes rapidly to make the world come into focus.

And there he was, staring back at himself with his (in his opinion anyway) "average" black eyes, the bangs of his "average" black unruly hair hanging damply around his face from the water, his "average" face glistening and damp. He wiped his face on the towel hanging nearby, wishing that he was born in a time when schools started at twelve.

He quickly brushed his teeth and got ready for school. As he came down the stairs (jumping the last three steps) he saw the usual scene of his mother and father and 12 year old sister sitting down for breakfast. He joined them, just having a peace of toast as his mother scolded him for jumping down the stairs even after the last hundred time he was told not to.

After breakfast, he half walked-half ran to his school, Inazuma High, now regretting that he refused to learn to use the Rollerblades his Aunt sent him for his birthday. (Although in hindsight, he wasn't really sure if Rollerblades were allowed in Inazuma High)

"HEY! KURO-KUN!" A cheery voice called after him halfway to his school. He slowed down his pace and turned around, effectively walking backwards. He smiled at the person scurrying towards him, who was Otonashi Haruna.

"Ohayo gozaimasu, Otonashi-san..." He said in his usual soft voice before bowing when she was in range.

"Again!?" Haruna exclaimed unnecessarily loudly, "I'm not your teacher! You don't need to be so formal with me!"

"But... I speak to everyone that way..." He said in a small voice, almost as loud as a whisper.

"Err... I have noticed that... Why, actually?" She asked him, a bit taken aback by how embarrassed and/or hurt he looked.

"Um... Force of habit, I guess..." He replied a bit evasively, looking at the sky with his dark eyes. Haruna thought that they would've looked like the twilight sky if they weren't always castfallen. They always gave the impression he was sorry for his existence... Well, he did have the habit of saying sorry for the most trivial things, most of which weren't technically his fault most of the time...

They reached the school, the fields alive with students going towards the building. The faint murmuring of the various people talking and the occasional loud laughs filled the air.

"Haruna!" A goggle-clad teen called. It was Kidou Yuuto, the famed playmaker and natural genius of Inazuma Japan.

"Ohayo onii-chan!" Haruna said with a wide smile on her face.

"Ohayo gozaimasu..." Kurosawa said softly, bowing to him respectfully.

"Um, you really don't need to do that, you know. I won't really mind..." Kidou said sweatdropping at the unprecedented amount of respect the whole school was getting from the slightly dark skinned boy.

"Oh, OK..." He said. And it was evident by his tone that the same event was likely to happen again the next day.

"Anyway..." Kidou stated, straightening up, "It's a good thing I was able to find both of you. We have an exhibition match with Occult today."

"But, we weren't notified about this before!" Haruna exclaimed while Kurosawa turned a shade paler.

"Well, you know Occult High's style... And a rumor said that the first person to get the letter of challenge fell into a trance for a week and woke yesterday..." He said the last part a bit disbelievingly.

"Well, the team's beaten them once and we'll beat them again!" Haruna said with a confident fist pump even though she had tuned blue from the news.

"We shouldn't get our hopes too high... I've heard that they've improved very much since then... And gotten better and more dangerous curses..." Jin said, suddenly popping up beside the siblings and causing them to get shivers.

"Ohayo gozaimasu..." Kurosawa said again, and bowed like before.

The pink haired sinister boy's eyes started leaking with joy like every past occasion where Kurosawa had bowed to him. (Oddly, never flinching when he suddenly appeared behind him.)

"Did I do something wrong?" Kurosawa said, his voice dropping in volume yet again so the question was barely audible.

"No you didn't! He's crying with happiness." Haruna said, a sweatdrop appearing as she saw Jin skulking in a corner.

"Umm..." Kurosawa was started before Hauna held his arm and dragged him to their classroom.

"Don't dwell on it." she told him when she saw him still looking behind at Jin.

"Actually... I was about to ask you if Kidou-san will be angry because of how close you are to me at the moment..." He said with a touch of embarrassment evident in his voice.

"Well... I... I-I can't believe you think Kidou is that close-minded. I know he can see that our relationship is strictly platonic!" Haruna said bristling at him, her cheeks also turning pink for a moment.

"So... He looks at every boy with a platonic relationship with you that way?" He asked a bit dimly, pointing at Kidou who was giving a warning look at him from a distance.

Haruna just sighed, the blush deepening to a rosy red.

* * *

**_"It's gonna be fine... It's gonna be fine... I know it'll turn out OK..."_**

Kurosawa kept chanting in his head. He was shaking his feet frantically, his breathing was erratic. _**"Keep calm... I-it's not likely to be bad... Is it?"**_

The teacher in front of the class was calling the names of the students one by one, and most came back with appalled or disappointed faces along with their exam-papers.

A drop of perspiration slid down his cheek. His fingers tapped along the beat his feet built up. _**"Why does my paper always end up to be one of the last ones?"**_He cursed in his mind.

"Kurosawa Ayumu!" The teacher finally called. Kurosawa gulped, and walked rigidly to the teacher.

He held the paper in his trembling hands and returned to his seat, not daring to look at it yet.

He plopped down his seat, and looked at the paper. The subject was English, and his marks were written in red letters on the corner of his paper.

He released a sigh of relief. "Thank God... 94%"

"Wow, you did really well, Kuro-kun!" Haruna exclaimed from behind him after getting a glimpse of his paper.

"I probably just got lucky..." he said in a tone that made it clear that he was serious and not just being modest.

"You should give yourself more credit..." Haruna said in a small voice, really upset.

* * *

The coach of the Inazuma High soccer club announced the starting lineup for the match that afternoon. And Kurosawa was picked to play in the match as a midfielder, his usual position.

"Err... Coach?" Kurosawa said as he approached the coach timidly.

"What is it Kurosawa?" He said in his usual booming voice. Kurosawa flinched as though a whip was cracked at him. He really disliked loud noises...

"...I-I don't think I should play in today's match..." He said in a small voice, looking down so his eyes became shadowed.

"Why!? You don't look sick. And you've been in excellent form!" he exclaimed.

Kurosawa muttered incoherently in response.

"What?" The coach asked.

He muttered a bit louder, but it was still too faint.

"Speak like a man, darn it!" He snapped at him as loud as a thunderclap.

"I'LL JUST WEIGH THE TEAM DOWN!" he blurted out at the top of his voice, very alarmed at being yelled at.

He reddened in embarrassment when he realized that the whole team plus the managers heard him.

* * *

The team was warming up on the field, looking apprehensive since the opposition (and a frightening one, none the less) was warming up just across the field.

Kurosawa was stretching along with the team. He was touched that they assured him that he wasn't a burden to the team. But... He was still doubtful of his usefulness.

He felt a shiver run through his spine... He looked around to find the captain of Occult, Yuukoku looking at him with a sinister smile...

_"Don't tell me..." _He thought, _"He knows..."_

* * *

**_END_**

**_Anyway, anyone wanting to submit an OC needs to PM me and I'll send the OC form in response. No Mary Sues or Gary Stu's, I'll only accept three boys and three girls, and most importantly, DO NOT SUBMIT AN OC UNLESS ABSOLUTELY SURE ABOUT HIM/HER. THIS IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART OR SOMEONE WHO'S PERFECT IN EVERYTHING!_**


	2. On the Other Side

**_Author's Notes:_**

**_Normally I would've waited a bit more before publishing this, but most people submitting were confused about a few criteria of the OC form. So this chapter explains a bit._**

**_DISCLAIMER: The Author does not own IE or its characters. He only owns his OC and the plot._**

* * *

**_Chapter two: On the Other Side_**

Kurosawa had a bad feeling about the way Yuukoku was looking at him. (Or maybe he was just imagining things, because that bandanna with the giant eye was creepy no matter what.)

He nervously ran his fingers through his messy hair. His first impression was that he knew about _that..._

But It was nothing but paranoia, right?

...

_"Yeah, that must be it... I'm just being paranoid... He must just be trying to intimidate me... That's right, the captain of Occult must be likely to use these kinds of tactics..."_

He inhaled deeply, trying to calm himself. He had to concentrate on the match... If he screwed this up...

"Hey, there's no need to get nervous..." Kazemaru said soothingly from nearby. "Just do your best, you'll do great!"

Kurosawa gave a grateful (but rigid) nod in response.

"Okay everyone, Sakka yarouze!" Endou yelled spiritedly, and the whistle blew.

Hiroto pulled off a magnificent kick-off and the team were of to a great start.

The ball was passed to Gouenji, who dodged a forward of the team, and another before being intercepted by Yuukoku. The pink-haired teen smirked before dashing full-pelt towards the goalpost, passing to a midfielder, who back-passed it towards another passing forward.

But Kazemaru intercepted by using his hissatsu

_"Fujin no Mai!" _The teal-net yelled and jumped around the forward after spinning around him for some moments, creating a whirlwind and throwing him away.

And they were in position again. Kazemaru passed to Kidou. Kidou dodged through the three midfielders with a one-two pass with Gouenji.

And they were nearly there when,

_"Doppleganger!" _A defender unleashed a cloud of shdowey gas that trapped Gouenji, and from it emerged his look-alike.

Spooked, he took a step back, which allowed the doppleanger to steal the ball and pass it to the defender before it disappeared.

The defender passed it on and it was again in Yuukoku's position. He was midway to the penalty box when Kurosawa charged in and stole the ball.

He quickly looked for a chance to pass. But everyone around him were being closely marked by the opposition. So he dribbled it onward himself, looking for a hole in their tactics.

And soon he found one, and passed it on to Fubuki. Kurosawa thanked the heavens that he didn't mess this up...

But his stomach lurched unpleasantly when he saw that Fubuki was also trapped. And the ball was passed back to him.

He tried to go through, but found himself also surrounded...

_"Infernal Element!" _He cried the name of his hissatsu as he kicked the ball in the air and spun it rapidly. it became engulfed in black and purple flames as it spun, and he jumped into the air before kicking it to the ground. The flames spread like water splashing around a rock thrown in a puddle and sweeped the players away, before forming a dome which burst into cinders.

He dribbled the ball furiously towards the goalpost with fubuki by his side. He passed to him at the last moment and they used their new hissatsu.

_"Fimbulvter!" _They cried as they kicked the ball from opposite directions and it whizzed upwards, spinning and emitting a silver glow. The background showed a snowy mountain and the shadow of a huge wolf on the peak. It howled as the ball hovered just above it like the moon and a blizzard engulfed the ball, turning it into a luminous block of ice. Fubuki and Kurosawa jumped up the mountain and both used a volley shot to kick the ball towards the goalpost. It zoomed onwards with a blizzard covering it.

_"Cataclysm!" _The goalkeeper said in a sinister voice and the ground around him broke apart, great chunks of rocks flew around him and they tried to crush the ball in a pile as it came. But the great pile of rock froze and the ball broke free, making the first goal.

"Great job guys!" Endou yelled from the other side of the field. Fubuki gave a high-five to Kurosawa.

"Hmph..." The goalkeeper scoffed.

* * *

"Good job everyone!" Natsumi cheered along with the rest of the managers.

The match had just ended with Inazuma High 4 and Occult High 1.

The spectators were still cheering as the team returned to the changing room, some still waving back to their cheering fans.

"That last shot from you was just awesome!" Endou was saying to Gouenji as they got changed. The team was chatting animatedly with each other, well, the whole team minus Kurosawa, to be exact.

As his usual habit, Kurosawa preferred to get changed alone in the boy's toilet. He was equally shy around girls and boys, and it was common knowledge that him revealing more than his arms and just beneath his knees in public was as likely as the sun starting to rise from the west.

He stripped off his sweaty jersey shirt. The match went better than expected, and he didn't mess up anything. He looked at the mirror, rubbing his palm lightly on his bare shoulder. His slightly dark skin had a lighter tone there, indicating a cut was there that had healed a long time ago.

"It's turning into a bad habit..." he muttered to himself, and the phrase vibrated through the empty toilet for a few moments. "Staring at the mirror isn't gonna make me look less unattractive..."

He touched his cheek gingerly, as though to check if it really was his face.

As his fingertips touched skin, an old memory shot through his mind like lightning... The old searing pain returned...

"Heh... You're just a doll, aren't you? It doesn't matter what people do to you... You just take it lying down..."

The words rang in his ears as though the whole room was full of people saying the same thing...

Over and over again...

And the day came back to him... When it was cloudy and the sky was weeping...

Were those tears for him?

...No... The world has it's own pain and suffering to look at... A boy in distress was a trivial thing to it... As trivial as a solitary ant being crushed under a raindrop...

A knock on the door brought him back to reality. He was surprised to see his hands clenched so tightly that his fingernails had dug into the skin somewhat.

"Coming..." He said in his usual voice, surprising himself with the calm that filled his voice.

But he still joined the usual pep-talk from Endou after changing.

"Great job today Kuro-kun." Haruna said to him with a small smile.

"Thanks..." he muttered. Though he wanted to say that it was Kidou, Gouenji, Hiroto, Fubuki and Endou who were mostly responsible for the victory, he held his tongue. He wasn't keen on being cheered up against his will...

* * *

Kurosawa as quietly returning home, slipping away unnoticed when he was getting tired of the festive mood. He walked slowly, looking at the ground and not even bothering to watch where he was going. Though that didn't matter, there wasn't anything on the road to bump into, especially in this time of day. The orange light of the ensuing sunset filled the lonely and quiet road. And he would reach his house like usual, when the shadows of dusk would set in and the scarlet tinge would slink into oblivion in the western sky...

Well, that was his initial thought...

He saw a large shadow that indicated someone was standing in his was. He looked up to see Yuukoku, still giving him that sinister smile...

"Um... Do you want to curse me or something?" He said in a calm, and slightly detached voice, "I'm already a jinx, so I doubt it'll change anything... Probably a death curse would be the best choice..."

Yuukoku raised an eyebrow, the smile fading into something like a frown.

"He's not intending to curse you, Kurosawa." A voice from behind him said.

He looked around and jumped as though he had seen a ghost.

Well, it was almost like seeing a ghost...

It was Yamino Kageto a.k.a Shadow.

And as it was second nature, he dropped into a bow at lightning fast speed and said "Kon'ichiwa, senpai..."

It was Shadow's turn to raise his eyebrows.

"Odd," He said interestedly, "I thought the first person to see me would run away shouting "Ghost!"... You do realize that you're the first person to see me in public after a whole year?"

Truly, Shadow had already a slightly unnerving aura about him normally, but it was greatly increased by his disappearance and the fact he had turned unbelievably thin and almost sceletal... (Kurosawa thought Shadow must've been starved multiple times, by his looks.)

"Ye-yes, senpai!" He said with a slight quiver in his voice, "Bu-but there are no such things as ghosts... And senpai must've been in some kind of problem..."

"Heh... Wouldn't have expected so much consideration from someone who thought I was gonna curse them for no reason." Yuukoku said casually.

"I hope you realize that everyone who meets you thinks at some point that you're gonna jinx them." Shadow said with a small smirk.

"Yeah, yeah... Everyone's afraid of the big bad guy with the bandanna..." he said sarcastically.

"Um... Excuse me, but... May I go home now?" Kurosawa said, thinking that they, naturally, had forgotten that he was there.

"You can, but after we have a talk." Yamino said seriously.

"Yeah... We need you to help us with something" Yuukoku said just as seriously.

"Erm... And what exactly do you want help with?" He said, voice going down a few notches in volume.

"Well... It would be better if we showed you." Shadow told him.

"We'll explain everything in _that _place." Yuukoku said silkily.

Kurosawa's expression darkened. _"They... They know..." _He thought.

"What's the matter?" Yuukoku asked, as the temperature of the place seemed to just drop a few degrees in that moment.

"I would like it if you'd elaborate what you mean by _that place..._" He said, his voice barely audible.

"You don't need to play dumb..." Yamino said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We've both been there and faced the same things..."

Kurosawa stood absolutely still, as though he was carved from ice. His eyes were shadowed by his bangs, and his expression was unreadable for a while.

After a while he said, "OK... But I doubt you can enter my world... I don't know if it works that way..."

"Don't worry, leave the details to us." Yamino said.

* * *

Kurosawa entered the house quietly. He just said a muttered "Tadaima..." and left his shoes outside.

The house was quiet as usual, and he quietly made his room. As manners state, he washed his hands first, before taking out a small pack of medicines he had bought. He left them quietly in his parents' room before going into the kitchen to get something to eat.

He still had the conversation with Shadow and Yuukoku in the back of his mind, but decided that it was out of his hands now.

The rest of his night was as normal as usual, finishing homework, playing his favorite RPG on the PC, reading another part of "Anna Karenina", having dinner with his family, and doing keep-ups when he wasn't feeling like reading a manga like usual.

But when it was time for bed, a touch of the apprehension that was bothering him in the afternoon came back full force. After two years, he was about to meet real people _there._

Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't feel any kind of emotion as he was getting ready for bed. But today, it was in between the thrill of knowing the unknown and fear of entering into a dark room without the faintest ray of light to penetrate the blackness...

He lay on the bed, his thoughts going from here to there to mimic the restlessness of his body as he turned uncomfortably under the covers.

But the heaviness of his eyes soon took effect, and he shortly fell asleep with a pillow over his eyes like usual.

* * *

It was most closely like hovering in nothingness. He felt like he was suspended in the air, weightless and floating aimlessly as a cloud...

But the sensation soon lifted and he opened his eyes slowly. His room came into focus around him...

But it _wasn't_ his room... Not the one he spent his waking hours in, anyway...

He sighed, walking towards the mirror hanging on the wall. And there he stood, a total contrast to what he usually looked like...

His hair was spikier than it was in the real world... It was parted to the left and the spiky bangs around the parting came to his eyes that were a dark shade of reddish-black... His features were more mature, ragged and more weathered... He was wearing a black sleeveless T-shirt, dirty-black gloves, dark brown jeans with a brown belt and heavy brown boots, chains entwined his arms that had cut marks that looked fresh, only an hour old...

A tattered midnight blue cloak that looked like it was ripped to look like a ragged triangle fluttered down his shoulders and its round upright collar covered his face to right beneath his nose.

Faint orange beams fitted through the window, unchanging even though the minutes passed... Kurosawa wished he could read something while he waited, but knew better than to try reading anything here. Every past time he had tried it, all he saw in his books was unreadable gibberish.

He softly sung something as he sat on his bed to pass time, making a mental note to sing it extra softly. He wasn't ever formally trained, and his personal thought was that he was a horrible singer. But he still sung under his breath for some reason, most likely out of habit or fondness for music.

He sat up quickly a few minutes later as a clanging reached his ears. And as though on cue, two shadows jumped in through the window.

On looked like a larger than life person wearing a flowing black robe with purple linings. A hood covered the head and the lower half of the face was hidden under the shadow of something like half of a mask. The only visible parts of his body were long, cruel-looking hooked claws protruding from beneath the cloak and a huge bloody-looking eye like that of a cyclops glowing under the hood.

The other was heavily armored in black spiked armaments, his ams covered with gauntlets through which protruded metallic claws (the right gantlet was twice as big as the left), a ripped mantle lay on his shoulders, his face (hidden under a silver mask with only his eyes that were totally black revealed) was framed by long white and dead-looking hair.

"Kurosawa?" The armored figure asked looking at him with those white-less eyes.

"Yamino-senpai?" He asked back, recognizing the voice even though it had a metallic clang to it, "Kon'ichiwa! Wow... Er... You two really look..." He said bowing.

"Horrifying?" The robed figure, obviously Yuukoku, asked lightly.

"Um... I was going to say "interesting", actually..." He said, rising from the bow. But his voice had dropped in volume and a slight pinkness appeared on his cheeks. (indicting that he was lying, to a point.)

"You look interesting as well." Shadow stated quietly. "But we aren't here to hold a beauty contest."

"Point taken, but there's one thing I'd like to ask Kurosawa first though." Yuukoku said.

"Yes?" Kurosawa said in his soft voice.

"Is this really your nightmare world?" Yuukoku said, indicating the whole place around them, "From no perspective this looks like a nightmare."

"I was wondering that too, actually..." Shadow said, looking around the room and then to Kurosawa.

"This... This is actually not my real nightmare..." Kurosawa said, quelling under Shadow's look for no reason. (Although anyone would feel a little frightened if they were being stared at by a pair of eyes that had no whites.) "I-I seem to be able to make a substantial world around me while I'm here... Kind of like a makeshift sanctuary..."

Shadow looked impressed and Yuukoku brought out an old book with a slate-grey cover.

_"Tainted Wisdom."_ He muttered. The book opened on its own accord and the pages flipped around, emitting an eerie light. It soon stopped and Yuukoku said, "_"The Daydreamer's Repose"... _Heh, you must really space out sometimes in reality, don't you?"

Kurosawa blushed a bit before nodding curtly. "Um... So, what was the point of your coming here? Not that it isn't nice to have someone visit..." He asked, before lightly adding the last part.

"We're here to ask for your help." Shadow said, taking a seat on the chair near Kurosawa's desk. (It groaned under his weight.)

"...What kind of help?" He asked, a bit surprised.

"You see," Yuukoku stared, "as you know, this world is formed out of the nightmares, regrets, negative emotions and messed-up feelings of people."

"Um... Not to be rude... But I figured that much in the time I was coming here..." Kurosawa said nervously.

"I'm getting there, so shut up and listen!" Yuukoku snapped, earning the usual flinch from Kurosawa.

"This world is built around two beings, the consciousness of the person, who is armed with the person's traits, virtues, will power and emotions; and the negative emotions, fears, nightmares and horrid memories of people, embodied in different forms depending on the person." Yuukoku started again,

"But this world hadn't existed before. It seems this world was created only two years ago, and only exists at a parallel space to that of Inazuma Town. We, at Occult, make it our business to investigate everything unnatural that happens in Japan, and after stumbling upon this world a year ago, we started trying to find the being that's binding this world to existence." Yuukoku paused after this.

"But... What does that have anything to do with me, and even you, Yamino-senpai?" Kurosawa asked timidly.

"I... I was trapped in my nightmare world... I couldn't win against tha-that thing... So I couldn't wake up... Yuukoku found me while experimenting transportation between the nightmare areas of different people... He helped me a bit, and after a whole year, I was finally free..." Shadow said, a hollow, haunted expression playing on his face that could be read despite the mask.

"I don't want anyone else to go through what I faced... I want to end this horrible world..."

Yuukou nodded silently before adding, "This is where you come in, Kurosawa. You are one of the few people, including us, who have enough of a mystical aura to jump through the nightmares of people. By our speculations, the being holding this world together is in one of the nightmares of the people living in Inazuma Town. We want you to help us find and destroy the being responsible for all this. We can help a lot of people in the process..."

"I-I can't really fight... And I'm so much of a jinx that you two are likely to fail if I joined you..." Kurosawa said in a disheartened voice. "But... But I can't just sit here and do nothing... I don't thing everyone can just make a place like this and hide... They have to live their worst nightmares every night... So... Ye-yeah, I'll help in any way I can!"

Shadow and (most probably, it was hard to tell since only a huge eye was visible.) Yuukoku smiled at him encouragingly. "Okay, it's settled then. We'll start from tomorrow." Shadow said.

"But, there's one more thing..." Yuukoku added when shadow was turning to leave.

Kurosawa and Shadow both looked at him with questioning eyes, and Yuukoku brought out another book (black this time) before saying,

_"Forbidden Knowledge!" _

All three of them were engulfed in darkness, and they reappeared in a stretch of black ground under a pitch-black and starless sky.

"Wha-where are we? Why are we here?" Kurosawa asked in a slightly alarmed voice.

"You said that you couldn't really fight. So it's really our responsibility to see how strong you are. It'll really clear up how much protecting you'll need." Yuukoku said a bit wickedly.

"I-I don't-" Kurosawa started but was cut off by Shadow, "Good point. Kurosawa, get ready!"

From nowhere, Shadow drew out a huge pitch-black blade and lunged at Kurosawa.

_"Damn..." _Was the only thought Kurosawa had time to form in his mind...

* * *

_**END**_

_**Criticism and opinions Is much appreciated!**_


	3. Alter

_**Author's Notes:**_

_**Aaah... And it just keeps on coming... The plot bunny has been kind these few days.**_

_**Disclaimer: The Author does not own IE or its characters or the various OCs. He only owns his OC and the plot.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 3: Alter**_

"Kurosawa, get ready!" was the only warning he got before shadow lunged at him with the huge black sword.

It looked vicious, with small saw like teeth on both sides and an overlarge tip in the shape of a hollow "V" with the edges curved inwards to resemble a valentine and the body of the blade embossed with a wolf which was a darker black, almost unreflective.

And it was as though time had slowed itself down. In only a fraction of a second, a deeply ingrained instinct kicked in and Kurosawa back flipped out of the way, leaving the sword to gorge itself into the ground.

Kurosawa skidded a few feet after landing, emphasizing the lack of friction the odd terrain had.

"That-that's not necessary!" He exclaimed, heavily alarmed at the prospect of fighting. (it sounded more like a hurried statement due to the lack of volume.)

"Shut up an fight already!" Yuukoku snapped, annoyed, as he tried to slash at Kurosawa with his claws and he kept dodging his attacks.

Kurosawa swerved to avoid a particularly vicious lunge when Shadow charged at him from behind Yuukoku, hiding his attack by taking advantage of the robed figures size.

This time Kurosawa was just barely able to dodge the attacks. The swings had more technique behind them compared to the first lunge. One tricky thrust just barely missed and ripped a part of his cloak.

"Darn it Kurosawa! Are you planning to keep this up until we wake up!?" Yuukoku exclaimed again as they both did a double team and Kurosawa just kept on running instead of retaliating.

"Probably..." Kurosawa replied, jumping on Shadow's head to avoid his downward swing and leaping to a safe distance from both of them.

"For the love of... Fine... "_Predator_"..." Shadow muttered, and from where his sword dug in the ground tiny tubules and crystals of the darkest black spread and covered the area around them for about 200 meters.

"Wha-?" Kurosawa asked as the ground beneath him suddenly burst into spires made of the same mysterious crystalline substance. He was quick enough to dodge it, but the ground itself was shifting as though possessed by an unholy parasite.

Wherever he ran the ground shifted and tried to trip him up or burst into crystelline cages or just spires that nearly impaled him a few times.

"Still not budging I see..." Yuukoku said menacingly, as he saw Kurosawa leaping fifteen feet into the air to reach the uninfected area.

Black static coursed through his claws and he slammed them on the ground. Sickly purple veins and knots like that on the hands of old people spread around him to the edge of the crystallized area. Kurosawa staggered just as he was about to reach the edge as from there emerged a grotesque looking wall that had the same texture as rotten flesh and agonized skeletal faces were formed on it. A truly frightening sight...

He looked around and his eyes widened. Snakelike formations made of crystals sprouting from the ground writhed in the air beside Shadow who was looking at him shrewdly with his hands on the hilt of his sword, the tip of which had dug into the ground.

"Last chance... Defend or get hurt!" He said forcefully, pointing a finger at him flamboyantly.

The crystal formations dived at him. A huge crash of breaking crystal was heard and dust rose from the round along with fragmented crystal.

"Idiot..." Yuukoku scoffed at the pile of broken crystal.

But both his and Shadow's eyes widened when they realized that Krosawa wasn't _under _the pile, he was _behind _it.

Kurosawa came out from behind the pile holding a worn down white shield that had the shape of a stylized double "X". The double "X" was accented by gold lining and delicate ivy patterns of light silver embossed around it.

"_"Pacifist: The Valor of Silence"_" Yuukoku said aloud after checking the slate-colored book again.

"Impressive... But just defending won't cut it." Shadow said calmly.

"Fine..." Kurosawa said, giving up on the whole pacifism thing.

A sword much like his shield appeared in his hand. It was also worn down, the bar going through the middle of the "X" forming both the handle and blade. The blade was white with gold accents on the slop of the blade and the same ivy vine design going through the middle.

"_"Peacekeeper: Burden of The Just"_" Yuukoku said again, voice suggesting that he was smirking.

"Finally... This is going to be interesting..." Shadow said with a satisfied smile.

They both charged full-pelt at Kurosawa with sword and claws drawn.

_"Great..." _Kurosawa thought while gripping the sword and shield tightly, _"They were going easy on me..."_

The two crashed their weapons against the shield, only to find them soundlessly deflected.

"What!?" Yuukoku exclaimed as not even Shadow's Predator was doing anything to the shield, not even making a sound.

Kurosawa retaliated with his own array of timed slashes, keeping a fine rhythm of blocks and attacks and occasionally parries.

But his sword also seemed to bounce off harmlessly at impact with Shadow's black armor.

He tried again, this time targeting Yukoku with his attacks. One well-placed thrust pierced through the robe, but...

"Huh?" Kurosawa asked as his slash only seemed to rip through fabric and nothing else. Yuukoku just laughed in reply.

A small quake made Kurosawa realize that Shadow's black crystals were still under him. As soon as he tried to flee, the ground burst into crystal and trapped him in the black substance.

"He lost I guess..." Yuukoku said victoriously. Shadow pointed his sword at the structure and it sinked into the ground to release the prisoner within. But, "Where did he go?" Shadow exclaimed seeing no trace of the ravenette.

"_Peacekeeper!_" Kurosawa's voice rang from behind them, and they whipped around to see his sword beginning to shine with a benevolent luster.

He dug his sword into the ground, and a wave of light incinerated all the crystals and made the grotesque wall created by Yuukoku sink into the ground again. But Yuukoku and Shadow were unaffected.

"I'll say it again, this just keeps getting more and more interesting..." Shadow said quietly.

* * *

Haruna sighed as she combed her hair, perched on her bed and ready for bed. Ever since her first day of high school her life has been so much more complicated.

She almost wished she was back to her middle school years, at least they were confusion-free. Her thoughts wandered back to the conversation she had with her brother that afternoon.

* * *

"I can't BELIEVE him!" Haruna exclaimed on the way out of the school grounds. The celebrations were over and everyone was heading home under the afternoon sun that grew more and more vivdly orange.

"That's the fifth time he slipped away without telling anyone! Fifth!" She continued loudly beside Kidou, who seemed to be thinking about something. "As if Kogure wasn't enough!"

"So, basically you feel the same about Kurosawa and Kogure?" Kidou asked out of the blue.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, taken aback by the question.

Kidou stopped in his tracks and looked at Haruna seriously, "I'm asking you what the basis of your friendship with Kurosawa is." He told her.

"Basis? Does it have to be one?" She asked, not really getting where the whole conversation was going.

Kidou sighed exasperatedly. "Every kind of friendship has a certain basis. Myself, Gouenji and Endou for example, our friendship is based on mutual respect and love of the same sport." Kidou said patiently (with the air of explaining it to a five year old), "I just want to know why are you two friends even though you're both more or less polar opposites. And no, opposites _do not _attract in this case."

"Well... Umm..." Haruna said unsurely, rather confused herself. "I guess because... He's such a nice guy but doesn't have any good friends!" She said the last part with a stronger voice.

"So, you're basically friends with him out of pity?" He asked quietly.

"N-no! Well... I..." She stuttered to silence. Yes, it did seem at first glance that she was only friends with Kurosawa because she felt a touch of pity for the quiet ravenette.

"I thought so..." Kidou said. "Look... This is something you have to figure out and make clear. Otherwise you'll both end up hurting each other."

"You're speaking as though he'll fall for me and get hurt when I tell him that I don't have those kinds of feelings for him!" She exclaimed, blushing slightly.

"It _could _happen. Raging hormones and whatnot..." Kidou said in an offhand voice before continuing to walk, leaving Haruna in a certain amount of embarrassment and disdain.

* * *

"Onii-chan..." She sighed again before remembering the "raging hormones" part and going heavily red "You baka! baka, baka, baka, baka, baka!" she chanted in an agitated voice and shaking her hand as though to deny something she let slip.

But still as she lay on her bed, she wondered why her thoughts seem to be centered mostly around the quiet teen when she was with him. Was it really pity? A bit of regret, maybe... But pity...

She remembered something Kurosawa said to her the first day they met, "We can't survive on kindness alone..."

* * *

Kurosawa just very nearly missed Shadow's head as he slashed his sword, keeping Yuukoku's attacks well away from himself with his shield.

"Wait! That's enough!" Yuukoku shouted over the clangs of steel(?) meeting steel(?).

Kurosawa stopped right away and sighed with relief, "Finally..." he muttered.

"Don't be so relieved... You'll have to fight harder every day in future." Shadow said seriously, his sword disappearing in a wisp of smoke-like shadow.

"It'll be easier giving my all against things that aren't people..." Kurosawa said defensively, twiddling his thumbs.

"So you were still holding back?" Yuukoku asked shrewdly.

"Mmhmm..." He nodded in response. "...Weren't you?"

"Only slightly..." They both said.

"That's not nice..." Kurosawa complained in an inaudible voice.

"The world's a B****, get used to it." Yuukoku said coldly as Kurosawa got startled that he could be heard. (Unsurprising since there wasn't any noise to cover up his muttering.)

"Anyway, it looks like you can hold your own. Yuukoku," Shadow started and then looked at the huge robed figure, "Give him the talisman."

"Yokai." He said sarcastically before giving Kurosawa a small pendant with a hexagon and arcane runes on it.

"How am I supposed to use this?" He asked Yuukoku after taking it.

"Just jump into the air while imagining yourself getting sucked into the sky. It'll either pull you to your own world when you are elsewhere or to a predetermined world if you're in your own world." He said casually.

"Sucked... Into the sky?" He asked, a bit unsure now.

"OK, we'll meet again tomorrow. Let's go back to our own worlds before we wake up." Shadow said curtly.

"Uh... What'll happen-" Kurosawa started when he was interrupted by Yuukoku.

"You'll be stuck in the world of the person you entered until he or she goes to sleep again."

"Oh..." He said, a bit taken aback.

"Er... One last thing..." Kurosawa said as the other two were preparing to leave. "What'll happen when word gets out about us going into people's dreams?"

"How would anyone find out about us?" Yuukoku scoffed.

"Well... They might remember our names... And if we ran into them somehow they could figure it out by our personalities." He replied softly.

"You're right..." Shadow said, slapping a hand on his forehead.

"So... What will we do?" Yuukoku asked.

"Why don't we call ourselves something else while in here?" Shadow suggested.

"Like... An Alias?" Kurosawa asked lightly.

"Pretty much." The white haired soldier said.

"Call me Obsidian." Shadow said curtly.

"This is so childish and humiliating." Yuukoku scoffed. "But since I have no choice, Talisman."

Kurosawa thought for a moment before whispering, "Um... OK... So I'll be... Raven."

* * *

_**END**_

_**Please review! (No, really... PLEASE!)**_


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